History Main / InstantSedation

* Zoo veterinarian David Taylor was a pioneer of safely sedating/anesthetizing wild animals of all types. He tells a tale in one of his autobiographies about using a blowpipe to shoot a dart full of a new, powerful agent, at a dose intended to bring down a very large hoofed animal. As he puts the pipe to his lip, he feels a small cold spot. When he put the dart into the blowpipe, the tip of the needle brushed against the edge, and the tiny bit of liquid deposited, absorbed through the skin of his lip, was so strong that he barely had time to grab the syringe of antidote (something he always kept nearby whenever using this agent, just in case) and inject himself with it before losing consciousness. Had he not been able to give himself that injection, he would likely have been dead within minutes.

** Averted Trope: during a routine treatment for injury, Simon covertly injects Jayne with a sedative when he begins to show signs of planning to take command of the ship, but several minutes pass before Jayne gradually loses consciousness (mid-takeover rant, no less).

'''Simon:''' I ''told'' him to sit down.

* ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'': It takes one second for Eggsy to put the Swedish Prime Minister to sleep with his [[TranquilizerDart amnesia dart]].

* ''Literature/JohnRain'': In ''Extremis'', Literature/JohnRain and Dox plan to start a war between the Triads and Yakuza by robbing a drug deal, shooting the Triads but only using a TranquilizerDart on the yakuza so it looked like they ripped off the drugs. [[OhCrap Unfortunately the yakuza soldiers turn out to be two huge ex-sumo wrestlers]]. Dox shoots them in the neck so they go down fast, but they recover quickly and attack Rain and Dox as they're trying to arrange the scene, leading to BlackComedy as Rain tries to immobilize the still woozy thugs.

* Lampshaded in season 6 of ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}''. Slater describes its miraculous properties in detail before being called on it by Kreiger. Who is then shot with a dart, knocking him out instantly.

** Averted in the episode "Sideshow". Killer Croc has just escaped from a train transporting him to prison, but not before being shot with a sedative in his upper arm. He manages to tussle with Batman, attempt to crush a downed Bats' head with a rock, run through the woods for, at the very least, several minutes, ''push down a full-grown tree'', and fight off Batman ''again'', all while only experiencing moderate dizziness from the sedative. He finally goes under after falling down a waterfall.
** Justified somewhat as a MagicAntidote in "Dreams in Darkness": Dr. Wu tells Batman that he has made an antidote that can eliminate the fear toxin in his body, but with one {{side effect|sInclude}}: instant drowsiness that can render the antidote taker [[AsleepForDays asleep for two days]]. Batman, however, decides to put the antidote on hold until he can stop Scarecrow and his evil plans of poisoning the water supply. Only then can the Dark Knight get the antidote administered to him by Alfred.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Care Bears|1980s}}'' episode "Bedtime for Care-a-lot" uses magic dust to put the Care Bears to sleep. No Heart makes the sleeping dust, and Beastly and Shreeky sprinkle it onto bears in Care-a-lot. They miss Bedtime Bear, who was just taking a nap. So [[ADayInTheLimelight it's up to Bedtime Bear]] to find a way to wake the other bears.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents''
** In an episode, a DrillSergeantNasty, Jorgen von Strangle, is quickly rendered insensate using two darts (humorously marked "K" and "O") during a fit of animalistic rage.
** This trope is also a favorite of [[BabysitterFromHell Vicky's]] in several episodes, whether she's using tranquilizers or TruthSerums.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''
** In "A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas", Lois reaches her RageBreakingPoint, goes on an anti-Christmas rampage, and climbs up a giant Christmas tree. When Stewie manages to calm her, Peter still asks for the police to tranquilize her so she can be returned to the family. She falls asleep immediately after being hit with the dart. Come Christmas morning, she's still loaded with what Peter claims is enough tranquilizer to bring down a bull elephant. This is a case of ArtisticLicenseLawEnforcement -- while police carry many less-than-lethal weapons, tranquilizer guns are (unfortunately) not one of them. Realistically, the police would have needed to ask Peter for Lois's weight to make sure they don't give her more tranquilizer than needed, which ''would'' drop her instantly but also fatally. Secondly, at least one officer would need to have a taser drawn in case the dart causes the suspect to become violent; tranquilizers take almost a minute to kick in.
** In an early episode, Peter's boss devises a contest for the company picnic, which involves taking shots at the employees with a tranq rifle and seeing who can last the longest. Most of the employees drop like stones the moment they get shot... except for Peter, who ends up with more than a ''dozen'' tranquilizer needles stuck in him and still manages to stay conscious long enough to win the contest. It would seem that this is due to his relatively high body mass, which (in theory) would require longer for the chemicals to spread through his body.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}''

** Averted in an early ep, where Goliath takes a few minutes for the tranq darts to really hit him.
* In one of the Music/{{Gorillaz}} short animated idents, 2D is knocked out cold by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lrvdbQFI2w just a whiff of gas.]]
* Thoroughly averted on ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', where [[PoliceAreUseless Deputy Durland]] gets hit with ''several'' [[TranquilizerDart tranquilizer darts]] and still has time to chase down Dipper and Mabel. He's only out for a few minutes.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheHerculoids''. In "Sarko the Arkman", AntagonistTitle. They use a sleep mist on Zandor.

* ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' TOS episodes:
** "The Quetong Missile Mystery". In what may be a LampshadeHanging, Race Bannon makes a note of how fast anaesthetic darts work on enemy guards.
** "Pirates from Below". Race and Bandit are knocked out by a tranquilizer dart rifle wielded by an enemy operative.

** In one episode, Bill adopts a dog to participate in a dog dancing competition, which turns out to be highly vicious and corners Bill in his shower. Bill attempts to grab some sleeping pills from the medicine cabinet using a wire hanger and get the dog to swallow them. He is out cold within seconds.
** In "Now Who's the Dummy", Hank threatens to kick Dale's ass for destroying Bobby's ventriloquism dummy. Dale promptly chloroforms ''himself'' in the hopes of being spared a beating, and quickly passes out.

* Exaggerated in ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse''. Hooty gives Eda some cookies laced with sleeping nettles in "Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Hooty's Door" to make sure she gets some rest, and she doesn't even notice the transition from awake to dreaming.
* Played straight in the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "Bad Hair Day", where a naturalist who's mistaken a hair-covered Candace for a rare tangerine orangutan gets shot with one of his own tranquilizer darts, and is conscious just long enough to ask Mrs. Johnson (Jeremy's mom) to go after the "orangutan". Oddly averted later in the episode, where Dr. Doofenshmirtz gets covered in Candace's excess hair and ends up getting shot with a tranquilizer, and he's merely groggy and delirious afterwards. The episode ends with a still-barely-conscious Doofenshmirtz stumbling through a nature preserve [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment singing a random song about getting "Shot in the Butt with a Dart"]], only to fall asleep in the middle of his song.
* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' in the episode "Death Bear". The titular Death Bear and Rigby both are hit by tranquilizer darts, but neither is immediately incapacitated. Death Bear requires an absurd amount of darts from a fully-automatic tranq rifle and a few minutes of rampaging around before being rendered unconscious. Rigby is struck by one and remains conscious for the rest of the episode, albeit much slower and barely aware.

* ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' has Donatello develop a tranquilizer gun attachment for his Tech-Bo in the episode “Bullhop.” He ends up shooting both Raphael and Michelangelo with it, both of whom are knocked out in seconds. [[OneDoseFitsAll This is in spite of the fact that Raphael is at least twice Michelangelo’s size and should take a lot longer for one dart to incapacitate]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
** Bart has just been "taken" by a monkey at a local zoo, and Homer tries to save him by putting a tranq-dart into a tube and putting it into his mouth. He then inhales, and it gets self-explanatory after that.
** Averted in another episode when Barney is shot with a ''bear'' tranquilizer dart. He actually pulls out the dart and drinks the remaining sedative before passing out. Played straight afterwards when the bear it was meant for is shot with one, passing out much quicker than Barney did.
** Subverted in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Marge" when a doctor uses a blowdart on Marge with "enough tranquilizer to take out John Winston", and she falls but immediately gets back up as she was only faking. Played straight afterward when Homer blows one at her and she falls asleep.
** Happens several times in "The Computer Wears Menace Shoes" with knockout gas and roofies.
--->'''Homer''': Oh, I'm tired of being drugged and gassed.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhost'' episode "The Looters". Brak uses a sleep gas missile on a ship.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers''

--->'''Captain''': I got the dart monkey on me back!

* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Code Yellow", a nurse sedates Squidward before surgery when he tries to protest about [=SpongeBob=] performing his surgery.

* Ether-soaked rags used to be a common finish for {{heel}} wrestlers. It was justified for three reasons: The target was already tired and out of breath; the target only needed to be unconscious long enough to be pinned, not for hours; [[EnforcedMethodActing they often used actual ether]] with the tainted object often tossed into the audience where spectators ignorant enough to inhale it too deeply too long would also suffer the same affects as any {{face}} who couldn't hold his breath and act unconcious at the same time.

** ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}''. While Bond is helplessly strapped to a table, Kisch renders him unconscious with a tranquilizer dart pistol.

* Played straight in the ''VideoGame/UltimateSpiderMan'' video game when ComicBook/SilverSable tries to kidnap Peter Parker by knocking him out with a couple of tranquilizer darts... for a few minutes anyway. Then his enhanced metabolism kicks in allowing him to wake up earlier than he was supposed to and resist all subsequent shots. Cue boss battle where he has to fight off both Silver Sable and her mercenaries while trying not to succumb to the effects of the tranquilizers in his system.

** Each of the Next Gen shows (''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'', ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'', and ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'') makes liberal use of hyposprays that knock people out almost instantly. Justified by being set 400 years in the future; they clearly have new drugs that provide safe, rapid means of anaesthesia. And the hypospray device itself presumably has sensors that allow it to instantly calculate the correct dose based on the target's height, weight, and species.
** Also note that on each series in the franchise, the weapons have a stun setting which renders the victim unconscious instantly.

* In emergency medicine, sedation of the combative or violently psychotic patient (euphemistically referred to as [[DoubleSpeak putting the patient to sleep]]) is typically achieved with a combination of a rapid-acting antipsychotic agent and a rapid-acting benzodiazepine, all injected intramuscularly. The classic cocktail is called the B-52, named for its constituents ( '''5''' milligrams haloperidol - antipsychotic, '''2''' milligrams lorazepam - benzo, plus 50 milligrams '''B'''enadryl - reduces dystonia caused by the haloperidol ) and for its effect (the target ends up [[IncrediblyLamePun bombed back to the Stone Age.]]) The B-52 has been solving unsafe situations in emergency departments since the 1970s, but it takes at least 10-15 minutes to work. Modern versions typically use droperidol and midazolam, and kick in within 3-5 minutes.

* Anyone who's ever had a surgery under general anesthetic will remember being asked to perform a task along the lines of counting backwards from ten, and will usually not remember getting much further down the list than "Seven" or maybe "Six". Of course, this does involve a specialist calculating the correct dosage for the patient, administering the drug intravenously, and the recipient of the sedation being compliant throughout; said specialist then has to stay around for the entire procedure to monitor for any complications, such as the dose being a little bit off, or perhaps a sudden and potentially fatal allergic reaction... The comedy musical duo Amateur Transplants (comprised of two doctors) poke fun at the perception of the job among other medics in their song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4fNaIurb04 "Anaesthetist's Hymn"]].

* ''[[Film/FatherOfTheBride1991 Father of the Bride Part II]]'' Franck gives George an experimental sleeping pill called Vatsnik to help George sleep and tells them they're [[BlatantLies "mild"]] and also fails to tell him he's only supposed to take half a pill... George takes two and passes out at the dinner table.

* ''Series/WonderWoman'': Happens to the title character in several season 1 episodes. "The Nazi Wonder Woman": a Nazi spy knocks her out with a chloroform soaked rag. Occurs less frequently in the later seasons although still pops up in episodes such as "The Murderous Missile", chloroform and other forms of gas and drugs one of the few weaknesses of the nearly invulnerable Diana.

This is ArtisticLicensePharmacology in the extreme. In RealLife, drugs can take anywhere from a few seconds (as with inhaled sedatives and anesthetics used in surgery) to several minutes (as with intramuscular injections of many animal tranquilizers, as frequently observed in wildlife documentaries - note how the animal initially reacts with panic or aggression when the dart hits them, then gradually calms down before passing out over the course of those minutes) to several hours (as with sedatives that are administered in food or drink) to take full effect. Similarly, dosage matters; the amount required to sedate a muscular man or a large animal would kill a smaller person, and a dose safe for a normal person might barely faze TheBigGuy. There is a reason why surgeries requiring full general anesthesia have an anesthetist there whose ''entire job'' is to monitor the type and amount of drugs going into the patient. For a full treatment of these and other issues, see the [[Analysis/InstantSedation Analysis]] page.

* ''Series/StargateAtlantis'': This is played with. Even the Wraith stunners, which were probably engineered to produce an electrical shock to take out the target instantly, allow those hit to react for several seconds before they fall, and that's the characters without resistance. The resistant characters can take two or three hits before falling.

* In season 2 episode 4 of ''LightNovel/BakaAndTestSummonTheBeasts'', during a card game, [[DudeLooksLikeALady Hideyoshi]] is called on a card he placed down and begins to strip his shirt. He immediately gets knocked out by slightly drunken [[ClingyJealousGirl Himeji]], who claims he's [[BlatantLies simply "tired".]] When Kouta attempts to bring up the topic of the chloroform bottle laying nearby, she swipes it at him, causing him to [[BlatantLies "get tired"]] as well.

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop''

* The thugs in ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'', rather than using the standard "chloroform on a rag" trick, pour it into a bottle that has a face mask attached. It still goes to work very, very quickly.

* ''[[LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' plays this pretty straight.
** In the novels, Mikuru ends getting kidnapped by agents of the rival Esper and Time travel groups who knock her out with some kind of sedative. It works very fast, so fast that her kidnappers were actually surprised and wondered if she was used to getting KO'ed.
** Also, in "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody", Mikuru puts Kyon to sleep so he won't see how time travel works, and then later (or 3 years earlier) Adult!Mikuru puts Young!Mikuru to sleep (from a distance) so that she won't see her future self. Neither of the victims suffers any ill effects when they wake up. They do come from the future, so perhaps it's justified.

* In one episode of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Ash and company were helping out at a hospital that, due to overcrowding at the local Pokémon center, had to take in some injured monsters. While trying to sedate a patient, the head doctor accidentally stabbed himself with a hypodermic needle and was conscious just long enough to warn our heroes that he'd be out for a few hours and they were on their own.

* Rags with Chloroform are a very popular method in ''Franchise/TheAdventuresOfTintin''. They act extremely fast in the comic, slightly less so in the Ellipse-Nelvana AnimatedAdaptation.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': Batarangs tipped with knockout drugs are common, especially in post-Creator/FrankMiller stories.
* ''[[ComicBook/DCPride2022 DC Pride: Tim Drake Special]]'': The chaos cult member that abducts Bernard uses chloroform powder to quickly knock out Tim after managing to catch his attempt to punch him. As the cult isn't too concerned about killing bystanders when abducting victims to sacrifice the potential of causing Tim serious damage wasn't something they were worried about.

* One of the biggest offenders in comics is Wesley Dodds, the original [[ComicBook/SandmanMysteryTheatre Sandman]] and his iconic sleeping gas gun. This actually becomes a plot point in the sequel miniseries ''Sleep of Reason'' where the US military and a group of Middle Eastern terrorists are racing to capture the [[LegacyCharacter new Sandman]] so they can figure out how he does it. It's implied that the gas gun's miraculous properties may be the result of his ill-defined connection to [[ComicBook/TheSandman that other Sandman]].

If a drug is administered to several people at once, all of whom get knocked out immediately, then this trope overlaps with OneDoseFitsAll. KnockoutGas is an area-effect variant subtrope, which is subject to different, but related rules. TranquillizerDart and FuturisticJetInjector are common delivery methods, as well, often in a KnockoutAmbush. Compare MagicAntidote, TapOnTheHead, and SlippingAMickey. Not to be confused with InstantSeduction.

* ''Series/WonderWoman'': Happens to the title character in several season 1 episodes. "The Nazi Wonder Woman": a Nazi spy knocks her out with a chloroform soaked rag.

* In the aftermath of the disaster that destroyed the Russian submarine ''Kursk'', Nadezhda Tylik, an irate and grief-stricken mother of a member of ''Kursk''[='s=] crew, was filmed berating a Russian government official at a briefing for the families of the crew. Russian military personnel restrain the woman, while a medic injects an unknown drug into her thigh — apparently through her pants, no less. Within moments, the woman becomes visibly unsteady, and the military officers guide her into her seat, where she seems to lose consciousness. At this point, the press was quickly ushered from the room. Interestingly, Tylik would later vehemently deny that she had been administered a sedative, claiming that the injection contained medicine for a heart condition.

** Subverted in ''Film/JurassicWorld'' when the Wheatley shoots the Indoraptor with 2 tranquilizer darts and it wobbles for a few seconds before falling to the ground. Unfortunately for Wheatley, the Indoraptor was only pretending to be unconscious.

* ''Series/IronFist2017'' plays this quite realistically (and intelligently) for a superhero story. When [[spoiler:Mary]] ambushes Danny, she takes an early opportunity to inject him with a pre-prepared knockout drug. It takes quite some time to take effect, in which he continues to fight very effectively -- but because she knows that it's in his system, she only has to fight defensively and survive until he passes out. And she's been watching and assessing him for days beforehand, so it's plausible that she'd get the dosage right.

* ''VisualNovel/PiofioreNoBansho'':

* In ''Webcomic/SandraOnTheRocks'', [[http://www.sandraontherocks.com/strips-sotr/contingency-plan-37-b the old-fashioned chloroform method works fine.]]

** Subverted in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad Marge" when doctor uses a blowdart on Marge with "enough tranquilizer to take out John Winston", and she falls but immediately gets back up as she was only faking. Played straight afterward when Homer blows one at her and she falls asleep.